“Seattle is Dying” KOMO Doc.

1ThoughtKnown

I went to Seattle for one of the home shows last summer.  I have been to Seattle four times in the past 15 years but the first time since 2013.
I noticed the homeless problem was (much) worse and applaud the boys in PJ for what they did.

I stumbled across a recent documentary on KOMO.  This is a real eye-opener. I suggest watching the doc all the way through.  A possible solution is discussed which is occurring in Rhode Island:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bpAi70WWBlw

brianlux

Well, wow, where to begin...

I watched the whole program.  It's well done and worth watching (especially for anyone wanting to discuss this here- I hope those who post here will actually take the time to watch it before posting). 

The situation talked about here in Seattle is the same in many cities.  As was pointed out, San Francisco is very much having the same issues- and it has one of the highest cost of living for any city in the US or Canada.  Sacramento, Oakland, L.A. - same thing.   And these are just the places I know fairly well. 

Hard drugs are an obvious major part of the problem.  I'm totally in agreement that hard drug dealers need to be dealt with much more severely.  Like John Kay (Steppenwolf) said,  "Goddamn the pusher man".  And better, more accessible recovery programs are definitely a must.

But simply more incarceration?  I'm not convinced that is a major answer.  First off,  the United States already has the highest rate of incarceration (percentage, not numbers) in the world.  ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rate )  And yet, out of 203 countries, we have the 14th highest rate of crime  ( https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Crime/Violent-crime/Murder-rate )  So obviously simply incarcerating people is not resolving the issues.  We have as much a prison industry problem as a criminal problem.

I also think these problems are indicative of some bigger issues like over-population, a ever increasingly decaying educational system, dysfunctional governmental agencies, poor leadership, an ever widening disparity of economic wealth, racism and racial profiling, and environmental and nutritional issues causing an increase in the frequency and type physical and mental health issues. 

1ThoughtKnown

The example they showed in Rhode Island was not “simply more incarceration”.
I see your point, we must get to the root cause of the issues, but if people feel they can break laws and not be punished, you have to be able to see how this would make it difficult for any policeman/woman to maintain a high morale level.

These issues are everywhere (here in Calgary but on a much smaller scale)  but the fact is that some people need help, and that help can come through the justice system.  But if you are arrested 34 times in 5 years and are simply thrown back on the street, that isn’t working. 

Agree with you that it was well done.   It’s a Seattle story but one that is in every large city in the free world. 

brianlux

1ThoughtKnown said:

The example they showed in Rhode Island was not “simply more incarceration”.
I see your point, we must get to the root cause of the issues, but if people feel they can break laws and not be punished, you have to be able to see how this would make it difficult for any policeman/woman to maintain a high morale level.

These issues are everywhere (here in Calgary but on a much smaller scale)  but the fact is that some people need help, and that help can come through the justice system.  But if you are arrested 34 times in 5 years and are simply thrown back on the street, that isn’t working. 

Agree with you that it was well done.   It’s a Seattle story but one that is in every large city in the free world. 

What I mean is, we are already leading the world in incarcerating people and yet we still have these great issues with hard drugs, homelessness and crime.  If what the story shows is true (you have to know I'm skeptical about just about every news report I read and watch these days, but I'll give this one the benefit of the doubt and assume it is at least close to true), the Seattle is indeed doing a poor job of enforcing laws. 

Now I won't swear to this because a) I don't want to offend my fellow left leaning/ liberal friends here and b) I don't know Seattle politics well enough to be certain about this, but I wonder if part of the problem there is that people tend to just assume giving the street people tents, food, leniency, etc. (in the film they talk about how  Seattle is sometimes referred to as "Freeattle) because it's easier to do that than it is to do the harder work of solving the problems?  There are times where tough love is more effective than giving handouts as a way of assuaging guilt or dodging an issue. 

And don't get me wrong- a good liberal knows the value of tough love.  Some just don't want to deal with it.

jeffbr

Seattle is fucked. We've been discussing this in the Seattle Homeless thread. 

camsjam

brianlux said:

1ThoughtKnown said:

The example they showed in Rhode Island was not “simply more incarceration”.
I see your point, we must get to the root cause of the issues, but if people feel they can break laws and not be punished, you have to be able to see how this would make it difficult for any policeman/woman to maintain a high morale level.

These issues are everywhere (here in Calgary but on a much smaller scale)  but the fact is that some people need help, and that help can come through the justice system.  But if you are arrested 34 times in 5 years and are simply thrown back on the street, that isn’t working. 

Agree with you that it was well done.   It’s a Seattle story but one that is in every large city in the free world. 

What I mean is, we are already leading the world in incarcerating people and yet we still have these great issues with hard drugs, homelessness and crime.  If what the story shows is true (you have to know I'm skeptical about just about every news report I read and watch these days, but I'll give this one the benefit of the doubt and assume it is at least close to true), the Seattle is indeed doing a poor job of enforcing laws. 

Now I won't swear to this because a) I don't want to offend my fellow left leaning/ liberal friends here and b) I don't know Seattle politics well enough to be certain about this, but I wonder if part of the problem there is that people tend to just assume giving the street people tents, food, leniency, etc. (in the film they talk about how  Seattle is sometimes referred to as "Freeattle) because it's easier to do that than it is to do the harder work of solving the problems?  There are times where tough love is more effective than giving handouts as a way of assuaging guilt or dodging an issue. 

And don't get me wrong- a good liberal knows the value of tough love.  Some just don't want to deal with it.

A well done piece that makes some great points. I've also considered myself a left leaning liberal but is it really more compassionate to let them live the way they are -cold outside dirty and hungry doing drugs till they die? Two criminals were shown.  A meth head who said he was "having a blast' stealing and shown spitting and trying to bite police officers trying to stop him. He was from Nevada. The POS who beat, robbed and raped a 71 year old woman and sells meth in front of the court house came from California. I wonder what percentage of the homeless there now came from other states when they heard they could use drugs in public, camp almost anywhere and steal and commit other acts without being arrested. They aren't interested in making Seattle their home but taking advantage of the situation. The city government needs to relook at the get out of jail free card. It isn't working.

Bentleyspop

camsjam said:

brianlux said:

1ThoughtKnown said:

The example they showed in Rhode Island was not “simply more incarceration”.
I see your point, we must get to the root cause of the issues, but if people feel they can break laws and not be punished, you have to be able to see how this would make it difficult for any policeman/woman to maintain a high morale level.

These issues are everywhere (here in Calgary but on a much smaller scale)  but the fact is that some people need help, and that help can come through the justice system.  But if you are arrested 34 times in 5 years and are simply thrown back on the street, that isn’t working. 

Agree with you that it was well done.   It’s a Seattle story but one that is in every large city in the free world. 

What I mean is, we are already leading the world in incarcerating people and yet we still have these great issues with hard drugs, homelessness and crime.  If what the story shows is true (you have to know I'm skeptical about just about every news report I read and watch these days, but I'll give this one the benefit of the doubt and assume it is at least close to true), the Seattle is indeed doing a poor job of enforcing laws. 

Now I won't swear to this because a) I don't want to offend my fellow left leaning/ liberal friends here and b) I don't know Seattle politics well enough to be certain about this, but I wonder if part of the problem there is that people tend to just assume giving the street people tents, food, leniency, etc. (in the film they talk about how  Seattle is sometimes referred to as "Freeattle) because it's easier to do that than it is to do the harder work of solving the problems?  There are times where tough love is more effective than giving handouts as a way of assuaging guilt or dodging an issue. 

And don't get me wrong- a good liberal knows the value of tough love.  Some just don't want to deal with it.

A well done piece that makes some great points. I've also considered myself a left leaning liberal but is it really more compassionate to let them live the way they are -cold outside dirty and hungry doing drugs till they die? Two criminals were shown.  A meth head who said he was "having a blast' stealing and shown spitting and trying to bite police officers trying to stop him. He was from Nevada. The POS who beat, robbed and raped a 71 year old woman and sells meth in front of the court house came from California. I wonder what percentage of the homeless there now came from other states when they heard they could use drugs in public, camp almost anywhere and steal and commit other acts without being arrested. They aren't interested in making Seattle their home but taking advantage of the situation. The city government needs to relook at the get out of jail free card. It isn't working.

It clearly is not working
I saw the same problems in Denver/Boulder when I lived there.
A friend of many years who has lived in Seattle for 20+ years is considering moving because of the various problems.

Here is what he has told me over the years... 
A lot of the people on the street in Seattle are not truly homeless. They are transient.
They choose to be on the street and as long as the city and its residents continue to coddle them nothing will change.

He believes that the city of Seattle and others like it needs....
Rehab rather than imprisonment
More affordable, not free, housing
Proper healthcare
Job Training 
Law changes in regards to public camping, public drug use, etc
Etc

Thirty Bills Unpaid

We frequent Seattle a lot. 

I have a heart, but I find the homeless situation there very disconcerting. The homeless people we come across are very aggressive and have me manage our itinerary (where we park, walk, eat, leave, etc.).

There was one occasion when, going to a Seahawks game, we hadn’t even gotten out of the vehicle and a woman in a rough way was at the window of the truck with her hand out). We have her $5 and proceeded to make our way towards the stadium district.

After the game, we came back to the truck and she was still there- obviously her ‘area’. She approached us and wanted more money. I explained to her that we already helped her out earlier and that we weren’t helping her out anymore. She persisted and got relentlessly hostile- not to mention absolutely pathetic. I gave her nothing more.

I was with my daughter waiting for my friends. I eventually got pissed off- unsure how I should have felt? I was hating this woman and Seattle in that moment.

brianlux

camsjam said:

brianlux said:

1ThoughtKnown said:

The example they showed in Rhode Island was not “simply more incarceration”.
I see your point, we must get to the root cause of the issues, but if people feel they can break laws and not be punished, you have to be able to see how this would make it difficult for any policeman/woman to maintain a high morale level.

These issues are everywhere (here in Calgary but on a much smaller scale)  but the fact is that some people need help, and that help can come through the justice system.  But if you are arrested 34 times in 5 years and are simply thrown back on the street, that isn’t working. 

Agree with you that it was well done.   It’s a Seattle story but one that is in every large city in the free world. 

What I mean is, we are already leading the world in incarcerating people and yet we still have these great issues with hard drugs, homelessness and crime.  If what the story shows is true (you have to know I'm skeptical about just about every news report I read and watch these days, but I'll give this one the benefit of the doubt and assume it is at least close to true), the Seattle is indeed doing a poor job of enforcing laws. 

Now I won't swear to this because a) I don't want to offend my fellow left leaning/ liberal friends here and b) I don't know Seattle politics well enough to be certain about this, but I wonder if part of the problem there is that people tend to just assume giving the street people tents, food, leniency, etc. (in the film they talk about how  Seattle is sometimes referred to as "Freeattle) because it's easier to do that than it is to do the harder work of solving the problems?  There are times where tough love is more effective than giving handouts as a way of assuaging guilt or dodging an issue. 

And don't get me wrong- a good liberal knows the value of tough love.  Some just don't want to deal with it.

A well done piece that makes some great points. I've also considered myself a left leaning liberal but is it really more compassionate to let them live the way they are -cold outside dirty and hungry doing drugs till they die? Two criminals were shown.  A meth head who said he was "having a blast' stealing and shown spitting and trying to bite police officers trying to stop him. He was from Nevada. The POS who beat, robbed and raped a 71 year old woman and sells meth in front of the court house came from California. I wonder what percentage of the homeless there now came from other states when they heard they could use drugs in public, camp almost anywhere and steal and commit other acts without being arrested. They aren't interested in making Seattle their home but taking advantage of the situation. The city government needs to relook at the get out of jail free card. It isn't working.

Quiet a few from the sound of it.  They were saying in the video that Seattle's lax stance on criminal homeless is what is attracting more and more of them.

My small city of Placerville (oddly enough because this is a very conservative town) had an area that was set up by the city as basically a homeless camp.  Homeless people were allowed to set up camp there and food and clothing was generously provided for them.  But of course, as one would expect, the situation was taken advantage of and got out of hand and the camp had to be removed. 

Handouts alone are just not the answer.  I agree that no one in America should starve, but it's going to take a lot more than just handing out money, food and clothing to improve the situation. 

There were a lot of people homeless during the depression.  I wonder what the percentage of homeless then was compared to today?  I wonder if there is something we can learn from this give us better ideas as to how to deal with today's homeless situation.  I think the big difference today is the prevalence of hard drugs, especially meth amphetamines.

Meltdown99

I had the pleasure of meeting a nurse a few years back that used to work with the homeless and drug-addicted homeless.  She also referred to the homeless problem in my area as more of a drug problem that fuels homelessness.  2 things she told me that stood out, 1 80% of the drug addicted homeless are never going to function properly and adapt like most of us...as sad as it was for her to say, many are damaged beyond repair, and number 2, needles...very few people who are shooting drugs into their veins recover from that...of course some do, but the overall percentage is low.  The only solution in her mind is to find a way to get them off the streets into some type of facility that can better manage these people...while allowing as many freedoms as possible.

bootlegger10

Meltdown99 said:

I had the pleasure of meeting a nurse a few years back that used to work with the homeless and drug-addicted homeless.  She also referred to the homeless problem in my area as more of a drug problem that fuels homelessness.  2 things she told me that stood out, 1 80% of the drug addicted homeless are never going to function properly and adapt like most of us...as sad as it was for her to say, many are damaged beyond repair, and number 2, needles...very few people who are shooting drugs into their veins recover from that...of course some do, but the overall percentage is low.  The only solution in her mind is to find a way to get them off the streets into some type of facility that can better manage these people...while allowing as many freedoms as possible.

Makes sense to me.  Let’s spend the billions actually taking care of these people instead of allowing them to live on the street.  Life is about choices.  Taking drugs is a bad choice and the consequence is uncontrollable addiction.  They surrendered their freedom and control the moment they stuck the needle in their arm.  The drug is their oppressor at that point and not government.  

Just typing this scares me about ever getting to a place where I would stick a needle in my arm.

Thirty Bills Unpaid

bootlegger10 said:

Meltdown99 said:

I had the pleasure of meeting a nurse a few years back that used to work with the homeless and drug-addicted homeless.  She also referred to the homeless problem in my area as more of a drug problem that fuels homelessness.  2 things she told me that stood out, 1 80% of the drug addicted homeless are never going to function properly and adapt like most of us...as sad as it was for her to say, many are damaged beyond repair, and number 2, needles...very few people who are shooting drugs into their veins recover from that...of course some do, but the overall percentage is low.  The only solution in her mind is to find a way to get them off the streets into some type of facility that can better manage these people...while allowing as many freedoms as possible.

Makes sense to me.  Let’s spend the billions actually taking care of these people instead of allowing them to live on the street.  Life is about choices.  Taking drugs is a bad choice and the consequence is uncontrollable addiction.  They surrendered their freedom and control the moment they stuck the needle in their arm.  The drug is their oppressor at that point and not government.  

Just typing this scares me about ever getting to a place where I would stick a needle in my arm.

Couldn’t imagine.

On The Farm- a great book detailing the Robert Picton case- spoke at length about the backgrounds of the prostitutes he preyed on.

In the majority of cases, the young woman fell for a guy who introduced them to hard drugs. Eventually, without any money, the boyfriend would convince the girlfriend to go with a stranger and ‘earn’ money for their next fix.

The guy would inevitably leave the girl. And... the girl was now burdened with drug addiction and a lifestyle to support her drug addiction.

Just horrendous to think about. Even the ‘johns’ preying on these women’s vulnerability made me think aspects of society were cold, heartless and horrific.

Jason P

Visit Detroit.   

Fucking Seattle... boo hoo

bootlegger10

Yeah, I fully agree nobody wants to be a junky when they grow up., and am not blaming anyone for getting addicted  But once they are it doesn’t seem like there are a lot of options and living in a tent shouldn’t be one of them.  A few thousand are jacking up a city of over a million and that is unacceptable.

Thirty Bills Unpaid

Jason P said:

Visit Detroit.   

Fucking Seattle... boo hoo

Lol

Good point.

Meltdown99

bootlegger10 said:

Meltdown99 said:

I had the pleasure of meeting a nurse a few years back that used to work with the homeless and drug-addicted homeless.  She also referred to the homeless problem in my area as more of a drug problem that fuels homelessness.  2 things she told me that stood out, 1 80% of the drug addicted homeless are never going to function properly and adapt like most of us...as sad as it was for her to say, many are damaged beyond repair, and number 2, needles...very few people who are shooting drugs into their veins recover from that...of course some do, but the overall percentage is low.  The only solution in her mind is to find a way to get them off the streets into some type of facility that can better manage these people...while allowing as many freedoms as possible.

Makes sense to me.  Let’s spend the billions actually taking care of these people instead of allowing them to live on the street.  Life is about choices.  Taking drugs is a bad choice and the consequence is uncontrollable addiction.  They surrendered their freedom and control the moment they stuck the needle in their arm.  The drug is their oppressor at that point and not government.  

Just typing this scares me about ever getting to a place where I would stick a needle in my arm.

Maybe we have to start looking at this way, we provide safe nursing homes for the elderly when they cannot take care of themselves.  We may need to look at similar to facilities for the drug addicted homeless, with medical support and addiction support...and hope we can reach a certain % who can get off the drugs...and get cleaned up.

Another thing she pointed out, even the ones you get off drugs still are hard to employ...for obvious reasons.

And I have no problem spending money on our vulnerable in our society.  

I would say be kind, we do not know what many of these folks have been through and are going through...

chadwick

i dislike cities, large towns, mass structures of steel & concrete, piles & piles of noise & people. frigg that bullshit. however, i always thought if there were a city i'd live it'd be seattle. seems fun & stuff. 

brianlux

chadwick said:

i dislike cities, large towns, mass structures of steel & concrete, piles & piles of noise & people. frigg that bullshit. however, i always thought if there were a city i'd live it'd be seattle. seems fun & stuff. 

Hey there, Sir Chadwick!

I used to love going to big cities and very much enjoyed much of my time living in San Francisco (but it was a different place 40 years ago). Now days, I generally don't care at all for big cities any more.     Some of that may be due to my age- I feel more vulnerable- but a lot of it is due to the changing vibe in most big cities.  I might go to Seattle one more time to visit family there and see the new Jimi Hendrix Park, but otherwise, I have no interest.  My wife asked me if I would go to Antarctica with her someday.  That would be more likely than going to some big city.

Thirty Bills Unpaid

chadwick said:

i dislike cities, large towns, mass structures of steel & concrete, piles & piles of noise & people. frigg that bullshit. however, i always thought if there were a city i'd live it'd be seattle. seems fun & stuff. 

It’s better than we’re giving it credit for at this moment. It’s great.

Nice to hear from you, C!

1ThoughtKnown

brianlux said:

1ThoughtKnown said:

The example they showed in Rhode Island was not “simply more incarceration”.
I see your point, we must get to the root cause of the issues, but if people feel they can break laws and not be punished, you have to be able to see how this would make it difficult for any policeman/woman to maintain a high morale level.

These issues are everywhere (here in Calgary but on a much smaller scale)  but the fact is that some people need help, and that help can come through the justice system.  But if you are arrested 34 times in 5 years and are simply thrown back on the street, that isn’t working. 

Agree with you that it was well done.   It’s a Seattle story but one that is in every large city in the free world. 

What I mean is, we are already leading the world in incarcerating people and yet we still have these great issues with hard drugs, homelessness and crime.  If what the story shows is true (you have to know I'm skeptical about just about every news report I read and watch these days, but I'll give this one the benefit of the doubt and assume it is at least close to true), the Seattle is indeed doing a poor job of enforcing laws. 

Now I won't swear to this because a) I don't want to offend my fellow left leaning/ liberal friends here and b) I don't know Seattle politics well enough to be certain about this, but I wonder if part of the problem there is that people tend to just assume giving the street people tents, food, leniency, etc. (in the film they talk about how  Seattle is sometimes referred to as "Freeattle) because it's easier to do that than it is to do the harder work of solving the problems?  There are times where tough love is more effective than giving handouts as a way of assuaging guilt or dodging an issue. 

And don't get me wrong- a good liberal knows the value of tough love.  Some just don't want to deal with it.

You should never worry about offending left-leaning liberal folks because you are entitled to your opinions. In Canada politically the left is divided into the "center-lefts" (Liberals) and the "further-left" (New Democratic Party).  They disagree on many things.

When I was thinking of this issue I was not trying to politicize it.  Your comment on "tough love" hits the nail on the head.  We have some problems in Canada but we do not have a problem with police officers arresting people 34 times just for them to be thrown back on the street.  The shocking thing was the number of these folks who think they have found "anarchist heaven". They can do what they want and there are no repercussions.

Last summer there are two instances which stuck out in my mind. I was walking back from Pioneer Square to the Market area and this young woman was screaming incessantly.  I felt immediately uncomfortable as she walked diagonal across the street onto the sidewalk in front of me and into an enclave of an empty store front and continued screaming.  I wanted to stop and ask her what was wrong, I really did.  But it was unsettling.  I carried on... not feeling great about it.

I then walked through the Market area but it was so crowded I just wanted out.  Once back outside on there was Rastafarian looking fellow who was screaming "I'm gonna blow your fuckin head off!" among many other rants to anyone who would listen. I decided to head in another direction.

The thing that sticks out at me was no one batted an eye in either situation.  No one seemed uncomfortable, that this is normal.  These two events occurred within 5-10 minutes of each other.  From those experiences I kind of understood the reaction of the family from Tennessee in the documentary.  It is surprising and unnerving for tourists, yet the locals seemed to have gotten used to this.

The police officers must feel helpless.  To arrest the same people again and again and them to not get incarcerated or (better)the help they need must be heartbreaking. They put their lives on the line for what?  It must feel like being a mall cop or something....

brianlux

1ThoughtKnown said:

brianlux said:

1ThoughtKnown said:

The example they showed in Rhode Island was not “simply more incarceration”.
I see your point, we must get to the root cause of the issues, but if people feel they can break laws and not be punished, you have to be able to see how this would make it difficult for any policeman/woman to maintain a high morale level.

These issues are everywhere (here in Calgary but on a much smaller scale)  but the fact is that some people need help, and that help can come through the justice system.  But if you are arrested 34 times in 5 years and are simply thrown back on the street, that isn’t working. 

Agree with you that it was well done.   It’s a Seattle story but one that is in every large city in the free world. 

What I mean is, we are already leading the world in incarcerating people and yet we still have these great issues with hard drugs, homelessness and crime.  If what the story shows is true (you have to know I'm skeptical about just about every news report I read and watch these days, but I'll give this one the benefit of the doubt and assume it is at least close to true), the Seattle is indeed doing a poor job of enforcing laws. 

Now I won't swear to this because a) I don't want to offend my fellow left leaning/ liberal friends here and b) I don't know Seattle politics well enough to be certain about this, but I wonder if part of the problem there is that people tend to just assume giving the street people tents, food, leniency, etc. (in the film they talk about how  Seattle is sometimes referred to as "Freeattle) because it's easier to do that than it is to do the harder work of solving the problems?  There are times where tough love is more effective than giving handouts as a way of assuaging guilt or dodging an issue. 

And don't get me wrong- a good liberal knows the value of tough love.  Some just don't want to deal with it.

You should never worry about offending left-leaning liberal folks because you are entitled to your opinions. In Canada politically the left is divided into the "center-lefts" (Liberals) and the "further-left" (New Democratic Party).  They disagree on many things.

When I was thinking of this issue I was not trying to politicize it.  Your comment on "tough love" hits the nail on the head.  We have some problems in Canada but we do not have a problem with police officers arresting people 34 times just for them to be thrown back on the street.  The shocking thing was the number of these folks who think they have found "anarchist heaven". They can do what they want and there are no repercussions.

Last summer there are two instances which stuck out in my mind. I was walking back from Pioneer Square to the Market area and this young woman was screaming incessantly.  I felt immediately uncomfortable as she walked diagonal across the street onto the sidewalk in front of me and into an enclave of an empty store front and continued screaming.  I wanted to stop and ask her what was wrong, I really did.  But it was unsettling.  I carried on... not feeling great about it.

I then walked through the Market area but it was so crowded I just wanted out.  Once back outside on there was Rastafarian looking fellow who was screaming "I'm gonna blow your fuckin head off!" among many other rants to anyone who would listen. I decided to head in another direction.

The thing that sticks out at me was no one batted an eye in either situation.  No one seemed uncomfortable, that this is normal.  These two events occurred within 5-10 minutes of each other.  From those experiences I kind of understood the reaction of the family from Tennessee in the documentary.  It is surprising and unnerving for tourists, yet the locals seemed to have gotten used to this.

The police officers must feel helpless.  To arrest the same people again and again and them to not get incarcerated or (better)the help they need must be heartbreaking. They put their lives on the line for what?  It must feel like being a mall cop or something....

Wow- very unsettling when that kind of behavior is normalized to the point where most people ignore it.  I think you did the right thing by not sticking around. 

And good point that avoiding politicizing the issue.  It really needs to be dealt with on a bi-partisan level.